US Osprey Crash Near Japan    11/29 06:27

   A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey 
aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been 
pronounced dead, coast guard officials said.

   TOKYO (AP) -- A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. 
military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern 
Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said.

   The cause of the crash and the status of the five others on the aircraft 
were not immediately known, coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said. Initial 
reports said the aircraft was carrying eight people, but the U.S. military 
later revised the number to six, he said.

   The coast guard received an emergency call from a fishing boat near the 
crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main 
island of Kyushu, he said.

   Coast guard aircraft and patrol boats found one person, who was later 
pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, and gray-colored debris believed to be 
from the aircraft, Ogawa said. They were found about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) off 
the eastern coast of Yakushima. An empty inflatable life raft was also found in 
the area.

   "The government will confirm information about the damage and place the 
highest priority on saving lives," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno 
told reporters.

   The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, 
but during flight can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like 
an airplane. Versions of the aircraft are flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy 
and Air Force.

   Ogawa said the aircraft had departed from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station 
Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture and crashed on its way to Kadena Air Base on 
Okinawa.

   Japanese Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said the Osprey had 
attempted an emergency sea landing.

   Kyodo News agency, quoting Kagoshima prefectural officials, said witnesses 
reported seeing fire coming from the Osprey's left engine.

   It said a Japanese military base in Saga in southern Japan decided to 
postpone planned Osprey flight exercises on Thursday.

   U.S. and Japanese officials said the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in 
western Tokyo. U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota said they were still 
confirming information and had no immediate comment.

   Ospreys have had a number of accidents in the past, including in Japan, 
where they are deployed at both U.S. and Japanese military bases. In Okinawa, 
where about half of the 50,000 American troops in Japan are based, Gov. Denny 
Tamaki told reporters Wednesday that he will ask the U.S. military to suspend 
all Osprey flights in Japan.

   In December 2016, a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey crashed off the Okinawa coast, 
injuring two of the five crew members and triggering complaints among local 
residents about the U.S. bases and the Osprey's safety record.

   A U.S. Marine Corps Osprey with 23 Marines aboard crashed on a north 
Australian island in August, killing at least three and critically injuring at 
least five during a multinational training exercise.

   It was the fifth fatal crash of a Marine Osprey since 2012, bringing the 
death toll at that time to at least 19.